Sharp Shooter: Depay, Aguero and Afobe to prove weekend’s holy trinity

It’s been a blink-and-you’ll-miss it opener to the season across all leagues and divisions, with shocks, routs and – importantly – goals in abundance just two weeks in.

There was no rest during the week either, after Man City reasserted their tag as Premier League favourites by trouncing Chelsea on Sunday, neighbours United made an impressive return to the Champions League on Tuesday, while the Championship produced some memorable goal-laden encounters on Wednesday.

So with the entertainment set to continue this weekend, the good news is Ladbrokes’ new Sharp Shooter offer allows punters to get even more enjoyment out of TV games, offering odds doubled on First Goalscorer bets if their selection opens the scoring in the first 25 minutes in any domestic televised game.

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Memphis Depay to score first v Newcastle @ 7/2

Given the events of midweek, it’s hard not to take a confident look at Manchester United’s Memphis Depay, whose two strikes against Club Brugge at Old Trafford not only opened his account for his new side, but could well have energised United’s solid yet unspectacular campaign.

The Dutch international was a regular scorer for PSV last term – with 22 goals – so after taking a couple of games to find his feet, expect his knack of finding the back of the net to transfer seamlessly into the Premier League.

With an ever-jittery Newcastle defence lying in wait in Saturday’s early kick-off, Depay looks primed to score first.

Benik Afobe to score first v Cardiff @ 5/1

Kicking off a few hours later at 5.15pm is the enticing Championship tie between two sides who not so long ago would have donned Premier League logos on their sleeves.

Cardiff and Wolves may not have made flawless starts to this campaign (Cardiff have three draws from three games, Wolves have won one, drawn one, lost one) but both have shown an eagerness to attack with goals scored by both sides in all of their games this season.

It promises to be an open game and therefore suits the veritable talents of Wolves forward Benik Afobe, the 22-year-old who has followed 13 goals last season with three goals from four games so far this time round, and produced a wonderful display in Wolves entertaining 3-2 loss to QPR on Wednesday. The highly-rated striker looks a ripe pick to break the deadlock early on at the Cardiff City Stadium.

Sergio Aguero to score first v Everton @ 3/1

Finally to Goodison Park on Sunday where a number of goal-getting candidates line up as the Man City steamroller arrives to take on an Everton side who themselves put three past Southampton last time out.

It means goals are on the menu and who better to rely on to tuck them away than fit-again Sergio Aguero at 3/1 to score first, while those looking for longer odds might cast a favourable glance at Yaya Toure at 7/1.

The Ivorian is starting to show the sort of dominating box-to-box form synonymous with City title wins of the past.

All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.

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